At age 15, young Johnnie would become a school dropout when he saddled-up his horse and hit the trail with his older brother, William Tindal "Tin" Ward. Their minds were set on going to California to search for gold.

With little money to make a trip to the West Coast, they joined the Estado Land & Cattle Co. cattle drive, which started in Karnes County. They helped bring the herd to the G-4 ranch in the Trans-Pecos. The ranch headquarters was at Ojo de Chisos, now known as the Basin in the Big Bend National Park.

After the herd was delivered at Marathon, Johnnie joined the outfit as a regular cowboy and worked on the G-4 ranch in Big Bend for Capt. Jim Gillett until he was grown. The ranch stretched along Terlingua Creek and took in most of the Chisos Mountains. Ward Springs and Ward Mountain, now in the national park, were later named for Johnnie Ward.

When Ward visited his family, who had bought land near the settlement of Wrightsboro in Gonzales County, he met their neighbor's daughter, Virginia Putman. Virginia was a graduate of Baylor

College for Women at Belton and a talented pianist. Johnnie was known to play the fiddle and right away they had their love of music in common.

The couple started their courtship in Gonzales County, married Nov. 15, 1893, and entered the ranching business. They would have eight children: Stayton, Blanche Ward Gaines, Lois Ward Gregory, John Allen Jr., Rufus, Edna Ward Hull, Roy and Rip.

At the suggestion of Capt. Schriener of Kerrville, in 1899 the family moved to Segovia in Kimble County, where Johnnie operated a general supply store along with running livestock. Johnnie was appointed Segovia postmaster March 19, 1901.

When Johnnie's mother died, he inherited her property on Johnson Fork Creek near Segovia. He invested in more livestock, but there was no land to expand his holdings.

In 1903, Johnnie was offered a good-paying job on a ranch in Sutton County.

According to family history, the Wards arrived just in time for one of the coldest winters ever recorded in Sutton County. They lost livestock from the severe cold.

However, from the sale of their Segovia ranch and Johnnie's wages from his Sutton County ranch job, the Wards finally had enough money to buy a Sutton County ranch in 1906.

A few years later, they sold that ranch and purchased another south of Sonora so the Ward children could walk to the Rock School in town.

Rip Ward, their eighth child, was born on Nov. 24, 1908. He would grow up and marry Mae Cauthorn in January 1935. They had a son, Albert C. Ward, in October 1935.

Mae's parents were James Albert "Jim" and Ada Earwood Cauthorn, who married Aug. 2, 1905.

Both Johnnie Ward and Rip Ward had the simple letter "U" brand on the left shoulder. Albert Ward registered the "U" followed by a "2," thus the "U2." Gus Ward's brand is "UU." The Cauthorn brand was a circle cross.

"I was blessed by God in being born into pioneer ranching families on both sides. I inherited two reasonably sized ranches from my father and mother," Albert Ward said.

"In turn, my family operates both the Ward Ranch and the Jim Cauthorn Ranch as a unit. We live on the Cauthorn Ranch, 21 miles south of Sonora, and our son, Gus, lives on the Ward Ranch."

Trying to run a successful operation on agriculture alone would be difficult, Albert said. Two important sources of income ? hunting and oil and natural gas production ? helped supplement the ranching business.

"Our livestock operations have evolved a bit over the years," he said. "We run basically Black Angus cattle but have frequently used artificial insemination programs with Hereford semen for black baldy calves. We also keep Red Angus."

Traditionally, the Ward family was big into Angora goats and sheep. Because of drought and predator problems, they have phased out the Angoras and sheep and substituted Spanish goats crossed with Boer goats, Albert Ward said.

"My son, Gus Ward, and his wife built a house on the Ward Ranch and live there. My oldest daughter, Cathy Ward Ball, also built a house on that ranch where she lives," Albert said.

"At this stage of my life, Gus manages the day-to-day operations of our ranches. Though I am nominally the boss, he does the day-to-day operations without interference from me. I leave him alone because, actually, he does a better job than I ever did. I am the bookkeeper, write the checks, deposit what money there is, and negotiate with oil and gas companies, pipe-liners, etc.," Albert said in an interview in October 2009.